Goosed!

The goal of our recent trip to Nebraska was to view migrating sandhill cranes. We were thrilled to see and hear thousands of the large birds but we were also amazed by the sighting of what was  almost certainly more than a million geese. 

We started seeing large numbers of geese overhead almost as soon as the interstate began following the Platte River in Nebraska. The streams looked like undulating lines of skywriting overhead that went on for mile after mile after mile. At first we assumed the birds were Canada Geese but a closer look showed that they were primarily Snow Geese. Over the course of the next five days we saw some Canadas and a few White Fronts but the overwhelming majority of birds were the white and black Snow Geese.

 The birds tended to travel or feed in the corn fields with the sandhill cranes during the day and then bunk in to small lakes or on the sand bars in the Platte River during the nighttime hours.

 There were times when the sky was totally black with snow geese. The photo above looks like an insect hatch. It is pretty amazing to think that each one of those specks is a 5-6 pound bird!

The two color variations of snow geese can be seen in this last photo.

Eagle Mania

For years Ken and I have been saying we wanted to take a trip to Nebraska's Platte River during the annual migration of the sandhill cranes. This year our schedule finally lined up and we headed for Grand Island last Sunday. 

It is a twelve to thirteen hour drive from here to our destination so we decided to do it in two days. The first night we stayed in Kimball, NE, which meant we had time to spare on day two in order to arrive at  Grand Island when we needed to that afternoon. We got up early and headed east, experiencing the amazing prairie sunrise pictured here. 

We knew nothing about the land we were in other than the information we garnered from a couple of brochures picked up at the hotel the previous evening. Based on those, we decided to exit the interstate at Ogallala and drive up to Lakes McConughy and Ogallala to see if we could spot any bald eagles. 

While the town of Ogallala seemed clean and friendly, we discovered that most people regard the lakes as a summer destination and knew little about eagle watching areas. So we drove on up the 7 miles to the dam and were happy to find a large information center. Unfortunately the person there told us we were probably too late as she had been told the eagles had already dispersed for the year. We decided to go see for ourselves and am I glad we did! She was correct that the eagles have left from Lake Ogallala but it seems they just went over the hill to the much larger Lake McConaughy. 

 In this photo you can see ten bald eagles. At one time I had close to fifty in my sights, all perched on the frozen lake.

 What the eagles were looking for, of course, was duck dinner. Below the dam and around open water the mergansers were plentiful.

We were so impressed by the sights on the Lake that we decided to stop in on our way home as well. Over the next few days I will cover the visit to Grand Island as well as some of the amazing experiences witnessed on our return visit to Lake McConaughy.

The Difference a Day Makes

 Not only have I not been able to get out my driveway for about a week, until last evening I haven't been able to see past my front yard for days. It wasn't until I awoke to sunshine and blue skies this morning that I realized how much the gray silence had been affecting my mood.

The reason for the isolation is, of course, the snow that has been falling non-stop for the last five days. With snow up to mid-thigh it has been a struggle just to push my way through to the llama corral to feed the animals; a hike or run has been totally out of the question.

Thank heavens for cross country skis or I probably would have gone crazy several days ago. With the amazing clarity and warmth of the sun this morning (even though the thermometer was still reading 7*) I decided to grab my camera and backpack and ski the three miles to the mailbox and back. Normally a six mile ski would be a nice couple of hours of moderate effort but with having to break trail through almost three feet of snow it felt like work, even with the beautiful views!

They are forecasting more snow starting Friday so it may be another week before I can get a vehicle out the drive. At least now I have a trail broken to the mailbox and back.

The bunnies are starting to show their noses after being buried for almost a week. 

The mouse that made this trail is lucky to be light enough to stay on top of the 3' of snow.

Let it Snow!

 For twenty years I have been bragging about not having to shovel snow in this high desert climate. Well, it looks like the joke is on me this week. It started snowing four days ago and it has not stopped since. I estimate we are at about 30" now and it is still coming down. Getting out the drive is not possible. Lucky for me and the llamas we have shelter and lots of food.

It is tough on the birds and bunnies. Last night even the golden eagle came into the yard in search of a meal.

When I went out to feed the llamas this morning I discovered that all but the top rail of the fence has disappeared in places.

Every day I have to dig out spots for them to eat. It is a forced workout first thing in the morning!

The snow has made some interesting sculptures. This is the ladder going up the cliff. 

No snow post is complete without the obligatory shot of patio furniture!

Clark's Fork Canyon

 Today's post contains lots of photos from the Clark's Fork Canyon. Last Saturday our fledgling group of five female photographers,"Shoot Like A Woman", took our first field trip and we decided to make this our destination. It was a ton of fun and I look forward to more outings in the future.

The Canyon is just down the road from where I live. Winter trips into the area are rare due to rough trails and near-constant gale force winds. We were incredibly lucky to have a mild, calm day.

One of the highlights of visiting the Canyon this time of year is the ability to see Bridal Veil Falls in its winter wear. Last time I was there a few weeks ago the  falls were completely frozen. This time we could see running water and ice chunks were breaking off as we watched. 

Old Faithful

 I have so many images from our recent trip to Old Faithful!

Ken and I make it a habit to visit Snow Lodge at least once every winter. This year we were accompanied by four long-time friends from Cincinnati who went in with us once before a couple years ago. The last time however, we were experiencing warmer-than-normal, spring like conditions. Not so this year! Lucky for us we had lots of warning that we would be facing record cold temps so we were all able to prepare both physically and mentally.

The photo to the left shows Tim and Dee on snowshoes and Ken on skis on our way to Black Sand Pool on our last day at Old Faithful. This was actually our warmest day of the visit with a high of 0 degrees.

Winter wildlife is generally easy to spot in the Park. For a few minutes this coyote and I were the only two creatures on the Old Faithful Boardwalk. He did not seem the least bit interested in me. 

One of the treats of traveling in on the snow coach from Mammoth is the chance to see Trumpeter Swans in the Firehole River.

There are many cross country ski trails right out of the lodge but if you want to do a longer trek it is possible to get a jumpstart with a Bombardier shuttle to a drop off point. On this morning Ken and I left the hotel at 8:30 am to ski to Lone Star. At -22 degrees, we were the only ones on the shuttle. As it turned out the next day was even colder!

Our timing was amazing. We arrived at Lone Star with seconds to spare before the geyser erupted. We had a private viewing of the performance. Barry, Karen and Dee caught the 10:30 shuttle and snow-shoed in to meet us for lunch by the river. It turned into a beautiful day. 

The following day Ken and I decided to attempt one of the most difficult trails at Old Faithful, Mallard Creek. Everyone from our breakfast waiter to the shuttle driver tried to talk us out of it, for good reason. The trail had only been skied twice before us this winter so there really was no trail and the terrain is pretty difficult at the best of times. We have done it numerous times and knew we could again but the problem was that any small difficulty could spell disaster at 36 degrees below zero. As it turned out it was truly one of the toughest cross country skis I have done. We had to break through approx 2' of snow the entire way  until we reached Mallard Lake Trail at about 5 miles in and we discovered we couldn't stop for more than 2 minutes without our fingers and feet going numb from the cold. We slept well that night.

A shot of the run off from Daisy Geyser.

Swan Lake Flats early one frosty morning. 

Pinyons

I am so thankful for the pinyon jays each winter. Without them the bird life would be less colorful in the cold months!